Futures: Miami RB Duke Johnson

Is Johnson capable of NFL brilliance? Burst will ultimately tell the tale.

by Matt Waldman

The 2015 running back draft class is a potential embarrassment of riches. It may test the collective sentiment of recent claims from football media that running back is no longer an early-round position.

To give full disclosure, I’ve often tried to justify these claims so I could wrap my head around the two-year drought of first-round picks at the position. I made the rationalization that the pool of available backs is so densely talented that the drop in demand for a feature back has created a parallel to NFL runners and NBA-caliber shooting guards: you can find one off the street and at least get reasonable short-term production.

We’ll ultimately see how the NFL regards this crop of runners, but at this stage of the process I think it could rival the 2008 class, which had 14 runners who at least flashed contributor-level talent.

Best Season

Player

Round

Seasons

Touches

Total Yds

Total Tds

Chris Johnson

1

7

408

2509

16

Jonathan Stewart

1

7

239

1272

11

Rashard Mendenhall

1

6

348

1440

13

Darren McFadden

1

7

270

1664

10

Felix Jones

1

6

233

1250

2

Matt Forte

2

7

363

1933

12

Ray Rice

2

6

343

2068

15

Jamaal Charles

3

7

329

1980

19

Kevin Smith

3

5

277

1262

8

Steve Slaton

3

4

318

1659

10

Tashard Choice

4

6

112

657

2

Tim Hightower

5

4

206

1026

8

Justin Forsett

7

7

155

969

5

Peyton Hillis

7

7

331

1654

13

The second- and third-round picks have been at least as productive as those from the opening round, and 80 percent of those first-round options had at least one quality season as a starter. Note that I didn’t use the phrases “first-round or second-round talent” to describe these players. Scheme fit, personality, and off-field behavior all factor into the draft.